Wesley J. Hall, ICD.D
Chief Executive Officer
Wes has over 15 years experience in Corporate Governance and Shareholder Communications. Wes started Kingsdale Shareholder Services Inc. in 2003 and Kingsdale Communications Inc. in 2009 to provide clients with a best-in-class mechanism for communicating with shareholders and managing IR communications. Prior to forming Kingsdale, Wes was Vice President, National Sales for Georgeson Shareholder Communications Canada, Inc. and prior thereto, a Senior Manager for a major Canadian Transfer Agent. Wes also brings forward his experience from his work as Assistant Corporate Secretary at CanWest Global Communications Corp.
Wes is a founding board member of the Canadian Society of Corporate Secretaries (CSCS) and was the CSCS' longest serving President. Wes remains committed to his involvement in and support of the CSCS, and other corporate governance and investor relations organizations such as of Caldera Geothermal Inc. where he acts as a Director. He is Chairman of TSXV listed TriNorth Capital. Wes is a past Director of Metallic Ventures Gold Inc. until its acquisition by International Minerals Corporation. He was also involved with Exempt Market Dealers Association of Canada where he acted as a Director.
Gathering an expert team of senior professionals, Wes leads the Kingsdale team and guides his clients through takeover bids (hostile and friendly), proxy fights, routine shareholder meetings and is an industry expert in proxy solicitation, depositary, corporate governance and other shareholder related initiatives. Wes has been sought out to lead some of the highest profile deals in North America including Petro Canada's $19 billion merger with Suncor Energy, Xstrata PLC's $19 billion bid for Falconbridge, Companhia Vale do Rio Doce's $19 billion bid for Inco Limited, Barrick Gold's $9 billion acquisition of Placer Dome Inc., Goldcorp Inc.'s $2.4 billion merger with Wheaton River Minerals Ltd., among many others. Kingsdale is also highly involved in consulting for contested shareholder meetings and has worked on the majority of Canadian proxy contests in recent years, including 19 of the 23 contested shareholder meetings in 2008.
Wes Halls’ other accomplishments in the field include being a recipient of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 award in Ontario. In 2011, Wes also successfully completed the Directors Education Program offered by the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) in partnership with the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. He graduated from ICD and received an Institute-certified designation, ICD.D. Wes is now among a growing group of 1500 directors who have undertaken education and subsequent certification to demonstrate their value as directors.
Riyaz Lalani
Chief Operating Officer
Riyaz is tasked with overseeing the execution of Kingsdale's client engagements, as well as managing Kingsdale's internal operations. He has had the benefit of being involved in and leading the client services teams tasked with completing dozens of high profile client engagements, including hostile bids, complex M&A transactions and proxy contests. Prior to joining Kingsdale, Riyaz was employed by an international asset manager for almost 10 years in New York and Toronto. Riyaz worked in a variety of analytical, business development and operational roles at the firm, eventually heading up the overall research and operational efforts. Teamed with the Chief Investment Officer, he helped originate, negotiate and structure billions of dollars of direct and secondary market equity investments into small, mid and large cap public companies in North America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Riyaz's prior experience includes roles with two Canadian bank-owned investment dealers. He is also a director of TSX-V listed TriNorth Capital, and OTC listed Royal Standard Minerals Inc. Riyaz is a past director of TSX listed URSA Major Minerals Inc.
Roop Mundi
Vice President, General Counsel
Roop was a corporate finance lawyer at both Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP and Goodman and Carr LLP with an emphasis on public and private offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and regulatory matters, primarily in the technology and mining sectors. Roop acted as counsel on behalf of both issuers and investment dealers. Roop holds a law degree from the University of British Columbia, a Master's degree from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor's degree from North Carolina State University. Roop is currently a director of three companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange - The Cash Store Australia Holdings Inc (AUC), Remstar Resources Ltd. (REM-V) and Lornex Capital Inc. (LOM). Roop is also a member of the Canadian Bar Association and Ontario Bar Association..
Trevor Nawalkowski
Vice President
Trevor, based in Kingsdale's Calgary office, is responsible for the business development and strategic partnerships in western Canada. Trevor has extensive experience in communications and media project management, working with many top tier public companies to develop effective stakeholder communications strategies.
Prior to joining Kingsdale, Trevor was employed by CNW Group (formerly Canada NewsWire) as part of their senior account management group. During this time, Trevor was also a member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) serving as Director of Finance for the Calgary Chapter. Trevor's extensive knowledge base of IR, PR and media communications techniques, tools and platforms is critical to the internal coordination of client communications and proxy projects.
Bernard Simon
Vice President, Kingsdale Communications Inc.
Bernard joined Kingsdale in early 2012 after a distinguished career in business journalism, most recently as the Financial Times’ Canada correspondent. He also covered the North American auto industry for seven years. Prior to the FT, Bernard was a correspondent in Toronto for the New York Times and The Economist. He was previously deputy editor of South Africa's Business Day and managing editor of Canada's Financial Post. Bernard has also conducted business writing workshops across Canada for the Canadian Investor Relations Institute (CIRI), and for several prominent public companies. He has been a regular guest on the Business News Network (BNN), and has made numerous appearances on the CBC, BBC and other TV and radio outlets in North America and abroad.
